People will tell you podcasting is hard. Heck, even I’ve said it. Because it certainly can be…especially when you don’t know what it’s supposed to give back to you.
My podcast became infinitely simpler to manage when I defined my version of ROI:
→ Bringing new prospects into my pipeline
→ Opening up new channels for connection
→ Converting prospects into clients
→ Amplifying my voice for the people who book voices for important stages
The hardest part of a podcast launch is going to your downloads dashboard expecting to see a number with three or four digits, and there’s only two. Or just one.
But guess what? If the idea of trying to decode the hieroglyphics of a downloads dashboard has kept you from starting, good news:
Your podcast ROI is going to come sooner than you might realize. And it won’t be in the form of a downloads report.
Unless your plan is to become the next Mel Robbins…which, more power to you. I just hope you’re cool wading through six years and a misguided foray into TV show before launching your flagship podcast (because that’s what Mel trudged through before her current podcast success).
But I’m guessing your podcast isn’t meant to be the business. It’s in support of the business you’re building.
Which means (more good news incoming): you actually have a head start on defining what success should look like for your show.
✘ 1,000 downloads are meaningless if they haven’t converted into business.
✔️ One download from someone who eventually becomes a $10,000 client?
Much more meaningful.
✔️ Six downloads by a prospect consuming six sessions of your expertise (in the form of trust-building episodes), now ready to buy before you even have a discovery call?
Feels like a highly significant return on the time you’ve invested.
✔️ One conversation becoming an episode, newsletter, five LinkedIn posts and the beginning of your next keynote?
Bigtime ROI.
Some returns are easier to plug into a spreadsheet than others.
But they all have value. It’s usually incremental to start, but eventually, if you’ve designed for it: the value of your podcast is quite literal.
Your 3-Minute Podcast ROI Estimator
What would your podcast have to return to make the investment worth it?
If you’ve been twisting your brain into knots trying to determine if an investment in a podcast is worth it, this should help untangle things pretty quickly.
(You don’t need exact numbers. Ballpark answers are plenty fine.)
1. What’s one new client/customer worth to your business?
$________
2. What’s your hourly rate, if you have one?
$________
3. How much time are you spending every week creating separate content for email, LinkedIn, social, your website, etc.?
________ hours
4. Who are three people you’d love a legitimate, give-get reason to talk to?
VIP #1: ________
VIP #2: ________
VIP #3: ________
5. What other KPIs have you been pursuing for your biz?
Speaking opportunities? Referrals? Partnerships? Authority around an idea? A stronger body of thought leadership?
Now look at your answers.
That’s the potential ROI of your podcast.
And here’s why this is an important exercise: once you know the return you want, you can engineer your podcast from the beginning to deliver it.
Which brings me to the thing I built for you.
(Yes, you, the person still reading a newsletter about launching a podcast with ROI in mind.)
It’s a limited-enrollment, done-with-you cohort program called The Strategic Podcast Launch Studio, and this is exactly the kind of thinking we start with.
We figure out what job your podcast needs to do for your business. Then we build the audience, promise, format, POV, cadence, production rhythm and flywheel around that job.
You’ll get weekly live Studio sessions and Q&As with me, two private 1:1 strategy sessions, personalized feedback, and a tight, curated group of smart humans building alongside you.
It’s designed for a very material outcome: a real, live (or launch-ready) podcast and a system for keeping it going...
Since price is the thing everyone scrolls to: let's get that out of the way.
For context, my private engagements begin at $10k, and they don’t come with a built-in cohort of cheerleaders and collaborators.
Studio enrollment is $4,950 (w/installment payment plans).
And if you’re sitting there thinking, Courtney, I still don’t know whether a podcast could possibly be worth five grand to my business
Go back to #1 on that ROI estimator.
Sometimes the math is surprisingly simple.
